Construction of the Panama Canal created Barro Colorado Island in man-made Lake Gatún. Home of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, BCI is famous among biologists as the most studied six square miles (16 square kilometers) of tropical land on Earth—a lab of biodiversity with more than a thousand plant species and a hundred types of mammals. These populations aren't static: Some animals, including ocelots, can swim the narrow gap between BCI and the mainland.

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